Halcyon Days
by Sirona
Summary: [Oneshot] Allen and Celena in their younger days. A fine summer's afternoon, a field, and a meeting with a girl.


**Halcyon Days**

**Disclaimer: **Escaflowne does not belong to me.

**Summary: **Allen and Celena in their younger days. A fine summer's afternoon, a field, and a meeting with a girl.

* * *

Laughing, the blond eleven-year-old boy strolled leisurely through the grassy fields, looking back frequently to check that his younger sister was still behind him. It was a fine summer afternoon, and he was taking advantage of the weather to take Celena out to the fields near their estate, as he had promised once he was free from his lessons.

After admonishing her to keep away from the woods bordering the estate, he let her go chase butterflies. For himself he sought a line of trees close by for their shade. Just before he reached it though, a figure emerged from one of the paths leading through it not five paces from where he was.

Surprise made the two stand frozen for a time. Then the moment was broken by a voice shrieking, "_Onii-sama!_" Caught halfway in the act of turning around, the boy lost his balance as a small blond bundle cannoned into his legs, and ended up sprawling at the stranger's feet. The girl took a small step back, uncertain, and startled more than anything else. Unnoticed, she shot a sharp glance back towards the woods.

He gave a grunt at the not-quite-five-year-old now sitting happily on his chest. "Celena, what have I told you about running around like that?"

The child merely laughed happily, pleased to have found him. Sighing, but a smile twitching at his lips, he shifted her onto the ground and picked himself up, brushing off his clothes as best he could. He was sure that he now had grass stains on the back of his (once pristine) white shirt. His mother would not be pleased. The direction of Celena's gaze suddenly reminded him that they had an audience. Straightening, he looked up.

The girl (who couldn't have been older than he) was watching them silently with curious, dark blue eyes. From the way she was dressed, it was clear that she had to belong to either the aristocracy or an extremely wealthy family. Common girls wouldn't bother with the ridiculous court fashions – or be able to afford them in the first place. The dress she was wearing had sleeves puffed up at the shoulders, a ruff around the neck, a corseted waist, and he shuddered to think of just how much material made up the skirt. It looked spectacularly impractical – nothing like the demure, streamlined, and elegant gowns that his mother possessed – and he wondered how she could move properly. It had to have been uncomfortable, especially in this heat.

But her attire made him aware of the fact that he was wearing a simple undershirt and black pants; he was not at all dressed for company. Still, his mother had raised him up to be a gentleman, so he stopped himself from staring long enough to catch hold of a wandering Celena's hand, drawing her behind him, and to bow carefully to the girl (_lady_, he corrected himself) from the waist. "I'm so sorry," he apologised awkwardly. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be here."

"That's quite alright," she replied, shifting slightly. "I suppose I was the one intruding."

An uncomfortable silence hung between them for a while, until Celena chose to poke her head around his leg and interrupt yet again with all the innocent candour of children. "You have pretty hair. It's like Mama's and mine. Who are you?"

A hand went self-consciously to the long, silver-blond hair. "Oh." And then, "I'm Aria…just Aria."

"I am Allen, and this is my sister Celena." Seeing that Celena was fast losing interest in the scene, he pushed her gently towards the field of flowers before she could say anything else. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that his sister had drawn his attention to it, he had to agree with her. It _was_ remarkably like his mother's, only a few shades darker. "I apologise for my sister's rudeness."

"What? Oh, no need, really."

Another awkward silence.

Turning his head to check that Celena hadn't wandered from his sight, he was surprised when she chose to speak.

"You are close to your sister." It was an observation, stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes…I suppose I am."

"That must be nice." She settled herself on the grass, carefully arranging her skirts. The dappled shade created playful motes of light on her hair. "Sit," she commanded with the air of one used to being obeyed.

Allen hesitated, then settled himself an appropriate distance away in the space he had originally intended to occupy, against the trunk of a large tree. A lengthy silence ensued.

"Do you have any sisters, my Lady?" he inquired politely at last, feeling the need to say something.

"Two. One older and one younger. But we're not that close." She shrugged. "And just Aria is fine. I get enough of 'my Lady's' at home. Is that your house over there?" She gestured in the general direction.

"Yes, my La– Aria."

Pause.

"I've never seen it before."

"That's because you can't see it from the road. The woods surround the estate except at the main entrance," he offered as explanation.

Silence.

"I like it here; it's almost like a fairytale, secluded away from the outside world. It must be nice, to have all the quiet and peace." She played with a stalk of grass. "It never is, at home."

Another silence, but this time somewhat companionable. Together, they sat and gazed at the small, energetic figure of Celena quite happily picking flowers by herself.

Somehow, the awkwardness had long since faded away. "What's your home like?" he asked.

She took the change of subject with the same ease of acceptance that he had taken hers. "Oh, bustling. There's about two dozen things that need to be done at any one moment, and they need to be done immediately. It's not so bad, really," she reflected, "since most of the time I can slip away quietly. Like just now. Our carriage broke down on the way back to Palas city, and Mar– my sister almost threw a fit over the delay."

"But won't they worry about you?"

"Oh, I just said that I was going to take a walk through the woods. They're probably still fixing the carriage –" A birdcall drifted leisurely through the trees. "But you're right. I should start heading back." Ponderously, she stood up again, brushing off her heavy skirts. Allen scrambled up after her. "It was nice talking to you, Allen."

"Likewise, my– Aria," he responded, his mother's voice in his mind prompting him to sketch another bow.

Celena, seeing them get up, wandered over, a bunch of haphazardly gathered flowers clenched in her fist. She proffered them to the temporary visitor who had stumbled across her field with the manner of a queen bestowing riches upon a subject, beaming when the older girl accepted them solemnly.

The one called Aria turned to go, paused, turned back – something very like mischief flickered in her eyes. "I bid you farewell then, Sir Knight," her voice was definitely amused, "but I think that next time, you should let the lady faint at your feet, rather than you at hers." A rustle of cloth, and she was gone, disappearing down the small trail. And leaving a mortified Allen behind her.

Still deeply red with embarrassment, he took a cheerfully chattering Celena by the hand and made his way back to the house.

* * *

'Aria' found out during the rest of the carriage ride to whom the estate belonged, and wondered what had possessed her to have the audacity to say such things. She heard, scant months later, about the tragedy of the Schezar family, and the disappearance of the young heir. When she chanced to see him again, this time a true knight, she gladly resumed their acquaintance, glad for someone to talk to who wouldn't use her comments against her. And still later, after many things had happened, she would reflect on that unexpected conversation on a summer's afternoon, and come to rue her parting words.

Yet because she had never forgotten that brief respite from her world of duties and appearances, because of a single bouquet given by an earnest child, despite all that had happened and the formality that had grown into their friendship she could not refuse the single plea from the same boy who had grown into – not a faultless knight, but a man. She accepted out of duty, yes, but also out of a desire to see both of them laugh again. And maybe, just maybe, she would be able to laugh again with them.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, this _was_ meant to be an Allen-centric piece to make up for the lack of a happy Allen in the series (and he's just so adorable in the flashbacks!), but then Eries Aria Aston just had to demand a larger role, and ran away with it. I blame it entirely on Intrigues of a Princess by Aerika S :) That last paragraph is of course referring to the events of episode 24. 


End file.
